Burundi

As the United Nations prepares to wind down its peacekeeping operation in Burundi and replace it with an integrated office, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is warning that human rights abuses, political tensions and other “troubling developments” could cause the hard-won peace process there to unravel.

As the United Nations prepares to withdraw peacekeepers from Burundi following the successful completion of their tasks, the Security Council today called for continued efforts to shore up stability in the country as it consolidates peace.

Burundi may again find itself in a state of internal conflict if the Government fails to drop its intolerance of critics just as the country takes the first steps towards peace after 12 years of civil war, a human rights expert has told the United Nations General Assembly.

Concerned about persistent rapes, killings, the detainment and military recruitment of children in Burundi, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on all parties to immediately work towards ending these crimes and prosecuting offenders, as the central African nation makes a transition from civil war to peace and democracy.

The international community must stay engaged in Burundi where the “overall situation remains fragile,” helping to reduce crime and ensure reintegration of a swelling numbers of refugees returning to the country emerging from 12 years of civil war, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released today.

Emphasizing the need for the United Nations system and wider international community to maintain their support for strife-torn Burundi, the Security Council today voted to set up an integrated office in the country to follow on from the current mission that ends on 31 December.

Growing numbers from among the thousands of Burundians who fled years of ethnic conflict in the small Central African country are returning home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following last month’s signing of a peace agreement with the last active rebel group, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

In a major breakthrough for Burundians stuck in limbo in Tanzanian refugee camps for many years, the United States has agreed to interview 13,000 of them under a United Nations refugee agency resettlement programme, and the agency said today that it expects most of them to be accepted.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, in its second country-specific meeting, has decided to recommend strife-torn Burundi for assistance from a recently set-up Fund that aims to help countries emerging from conflict to rebuild and avoid descending again into bloodshed.